^525 


>26 
W5- 


UC-NRLF 


*B    EbS    fl32 


Oi 

00 

in 

^ 

o 

O) 

CD 

;- 


THE  FACTS  STATED 


HON.  THURLOW  WEED 


ON   THE 


MORGAN  ABDUCTION 


— A — 


DOCUMENT  FOR  THE  PEOPLE. 


CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS : 
NATIONAL   CHRISTIAN  ASSOCIATION. 

1882. 


V® 


THURLOW  WEED 

ON  THE  ABDUCTION  OF  CAPTAIN  WM.  MORGAN. 


New  York,  Sept.  9, 1882. 

Dear  Sir: — I  have  delayed  the  answer  to  your  letter 
inviting  me  to  attend  the  unveiling  of  the  monument 
of  Captain  William  Morgan,  in  the  hope  that  I  should 
be  able  to  be  present  on  that  occasion. 

Impaired  vision,  added  to  other  infirmities,  prevents 
my  going  far  from  home.  The  occasion  is  one  that 
recalls  an  event  of  startling  interest,  arousiug  deep 
popular  feeling,  first  at  Batavia,  Le  Roy,  Canandaigua 
and  Rochester,  then  pervading  our  own  and  other  States. 
After  reading  the  proceedings  of  a  meeting  at  Batavia 
with  the  Hon.  David  E.  Evans  as  presiding  officer,  I 
wrote  a  six-line  paragraph  for  the  Rochester  Telegraph, 
in  which  I  stated  that  a  citizen  of  Batavia  had  been 
spirited  away  from  his  home  and  family,  and  that,  after 
a  mysterious  absence  of  several  days,  a  village  meeting 
had  been  held  and  a  committee  of  citizens  appointed  to 
investigate"  tiie  matter;  adding  that,  as  it  was  known 
that  Freemasons  were  concerned  in  this  abduction,  it 
behooved  the  fraternit}'  whose  good  name  was  suffering 
to  take  the  laboring  oar  in  restoring  the  lost  man  to  his 
liberty.  That  paragraph  brought  dozens  of  our  most 
influential  citizens,  greatly  excited,  to  the  office,  stopping 
the  paper  and  ordering  the  discontinuance  of  their  ad- 
vertisements.    I  enquired  of  my  partner,  Robert  Mar- 


m1604:44 


2        t  THU,RLPW  .WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION. 

'^iji/ivhat;;  f  -had1' done  to  exasperate  so  many  of  our 
friends.  He  brought  me  a  book  and  directed  my  atten- 
tion to  an  obligation  invoking  severe  penalties  as  a 
punishment  for  disclosing  the  secrets  of  Masons,  in- 
quiring what  1  thought  of  a  man  who,  after  taking  such 
an  obligation,  violated  it?  I  replied  that  I  did  not 
know  any  punishment  too  severe  for  such  a  perjurer. 
The  discontinuance  of  the  paper  embraced  so  large  a 
number  of  its  patrons,  I  saw  that  my  brief  and,  as  I 
supposed,  very  harmless  paragraph,  would  ruin  the 
establishment.  Unwilling  that  my  partner  should 
suffer  I  promptly  withdrew,  leaving  the  establishment 
in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Martin.  The  paper  was  doing 
well,  and  until  that  paragraph  appeared  my  business 
future  was  all  I  could  desire. 

At  that  time  an  editor  was  wanted  at  Utica,  where  I 
had  formerly  worked  and  where  I  had  many  friends,  but 
my  offer  to  go  there  was  declined.  I  was  equally  un- 
fortunate in  my  application  for  editorial  employment 
at  Troy.  The  objection  in  both  cases  was  that  I  had 
been  too  busy  in  getting  up  an  excitement  about  Mor- 
gan. 

Meantime  the  mystery  deepened  and  public  meetings 
were  held  in  several  villages,  Rochester  included.  In 
the  meeting  at  Rochester  it  was  assumed  that  all  good 
citizens  would  unite  in  an  effort  to  vindicate  the  law. 
A  committee  was  appointed  consisting  of  seven,  three 
of  whom  were  Masons.  It  was  soon  discovered  that 
•|  the  three  Masons  went  from  the  committee  to  the 
lodge  rooms.  It  was  subsequently  ascertained  that 
two  of  these  gentlemen  were  concerned  in  the  abduc- 
tion, and  that  Morgan  had  been  commit  ted  to  the  jail 
in  Canandaigua  on  a  false  charge  of  larceny,  and  that 


THURLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN"  ABDUCTION".  3 

he  had  been  carried  from  thence  secretly  by  night  to 
Fort  Niagara.  The  committee  encountered  an  obstacle 
in  obtaining  indictments  in  live  of  the  six  counties 
where  indictments  were  needed.  The  sheriffs  who 
summoned  the  grand  juries  were  Freemasons.  In  four 
counties  no  indictments  could  be  obtained.  In  Ontario, 
however,  the  District  Attorney,  Bowen  Whiting,  and 
the  Sheriff,  Joseph  Garlinghouse,  though  Masons,  re- 
garded their  obligation  to  the  laws  of  the  State  para 
mount.  Sheriff  Garlinghouse  and  District  Attorney 
Whiting  discharged  their  duties  independently  and 
honestly.  As  the  investigations  proceeded  the  evidence 
increased  that  Morgan  had  been  unlawfully  confined  in 
the  Canandaigua  jail  and  secretly  conveyed  to  Fort 
Niagara,  where  he  was  confined  in  the  magazine.  There 
was  every  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  taken  from  the 
magazine  and  drowned  in  Lake  Ontario.  This,  however, 
was  boldly  and  persistently  denied — denials  accom- 
panied by  solemn  assurances  that  Morgan  had  been 
seen  alive  in  several  places,  divided  the  public  sentiment. 
At  town  meetings,  several  months  after  Morgan's  dis- 
appearance, the  question  was  carried  into  politics.  A 
large  number  of  zealous  Anti-masons  determined  to 
make  it  a  political  issue.  Solomon  Southwick  was 
nominated  at  Le  Roy  for  Governor.  Our  committee 
firmly  resisted  all  such  efforts,  urging  all  who  were 
connected  with  us  in  an  effort  to  vindicate  the  law  to 
vote  for  the  candidates  of  the  party  with  which  they 
had  been  previously  connected.  We  endeavored  to  in- 
duce the  Whig  State  Convention  to  nominate  Francis 
Granger,  but.  failing  in  that,  we  gave  our  support  to 
Judge  Smith  Thompson.  Afterwards,  at  a  village 
election  in  Rochester,  Dr.  F.  F.  Backus,  who  had  been 


4     THURLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION. 

Treasurer  by  a  unanimous  vote  of  the  electors  from  the 
time  the  village  charter  had  been  obtained,  was  again 
the  candidate  of  both  parties.  No  whisper  of  opposition 
was  heard  before  the  election,  or  at  the  polls,  but  when 
the  votes  were  canvassed  a  majority  appeared  in  favor 
of  Dr.  John  B.  Elwood.  Dr.  Backus  was  an  active  and 
influential  member  of  the  Morgan  investigating  com- 
mittee. That  astounding  result  produced  an  instan- 
taneous change. 

Political  Anti-masonry  from  that  moment  and  for 
that  reason  became  an  element  in  our  elections.  Jt 
was  alleged  and  extensively  believed  that  the  "  Morgan 
Committee,'1  to  gratify  personal  aspirations,  went  vol- 
untarily into  politics.  Those  allegations  were  as  un- 
truthful as  they  were  unjust.  It  was  not  until  we  as- 
certained that  the  fraternity,  by  a  secret  movement, 
was  strong  enough  to  defeat  the  candidate  of  both  po- 
litical parties  that  we  consented  to  join  issue  with  them 
politically. 

In  the  autumn  of  1827,  the  discovery  of  the  body  ot 
an  unknown  man  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  near 
the  mouth  of  Oak  Orchard  Creek,  gave  a  new  and  ab- 
sorbing aspect  to  the  question.  The  description  of  that 
body,  as  published  by  the  Coroner  who  held  an  inquest 
over  it,  induced  a  belief  that  it  was  the  body  of  Wm. 
Morgan.  Our  committee  decided  to  hold  another  in- 
quest. Impressed  with  the  importance  and  responsi- 
bility of  the  question  I  gave  public  notice  of  our  inten- 
tion and  personally  invited  several  citizens  who  had 
known  Morgan  to  be  present.  One  of  our  committee 
went  to  Batavia  to  secure  the  attendance  of  Mrs.  Mor- 
gan and  as  many  others  who  knew  him  as  would  attend. 
The  body  had  been  interred  where  it  was  found.     The 


THURLOW  WEED  OK  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION.  5 

rude  coffin  was  opened  in  the  presence  of  between 
forty  and  fifty  persons.  When  it  was  reached  and  be- 
fore removing  the  lid  I  received  from  Mrs.  Morgan  and 
others  who  knew  him  well,  descriptions  of  his  person. 
Mrs.  Morgan  described  the  color  of  his  hair,  a  scar 
upon  his  foot,  and  that  his  teeth  were  double  all  round. 
Dr.  Strong  confirmed  Mrs.  Morgan's  statement  about 
double  teeth,  one  of  which  he  had  extracted,  while 
another  was  broken,  indicating  the  position  of  the  ex- 
tracted and  broken  teeth.  When  the  coffin  was  opened 
the  body  disclosed  the  peculiarities  described  by  Mrs. 
Morgan  and  Dr.  Strong. 

This  seconcl  inquest  and  the  examinations  of  the  body 
proceeded  in  open  day  and  in  the  presence  of  Masons 
and  Anti-masons,  not  one  of  whom  dissented  from  the 
Coroner's  jurj7,  by  which  the  body  was  unanimously 
declared  to  be  that  of  William  Morgan.  Mrs.  Morgan, 
in  her  testimony,  failed  to  recognize  the  clothes.  The 
body  was  taken  to  Batavia,  where  it  was  re-interred, 
no  one  as  yet  expressing  any  doubt  of  its  identity. 

Subsequently,  however,  we  were  surprised  by  a  state- 
ment that  the  body  supposed  to  be  that  of  Morgan  was 
alleged  to  be  the  body  of  Timothy  Monroe,  who  had 
been  drowned  in  the  Niagara  River  several  weeks  before 
holding  the  first  inquest.  This  awakened  general  and 
intense  feeling.  Notice  was*  given  that  a  third  inquest 
would  be  held  at  Batavia,  where  the  widow  and  son  of 
Timothy  Monroe  appeared  as  witnesses.  Mrs.  Monroe 
swore  to  a  body  essentially  different  from  that  found  at 
Oak  Orchard  Creek.  Her  husband,  she  said,  had  black 
hair  that  had  been  recently  cut  and  stood  erect.  Her 
testimony  made  her  husband  from  three  to  four  inches 
taller  than  that  of  the  body  in  question.     She  testified 


6  THURLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION. 

that  her  husband  had  double  teeth  all  round  and  de- 
scribed an  extracted  tooth  from  the  wrong  jaw  and 
knew  nothing  of  the  broken  tooth.  The  hair  upon  the 
head  of  the  drowned  man  was  long,  silky,  and  of  a 
chestnut  color,  while  that  of  Monroe,  according  to  the 
testimony  of  Mrs.  Monroe  and  her  son,  was  short, 
black  and  close  cut.  While  Mrs.  Monroe  failed  in 
describing  the  body,  her  description  of  the  clothing  was 
minutely  accurate.  The  heel  of  his  stocking  was 
described  as  having  been  darned  with  yarn  different  in 
color.  Her  cross-examination  was  very  rigid  and  her 
answers  throughout  were  found  to  be  correct.  The 
clothing  thus  described  had  been  in  possession  of  the 
Coroner,  who  testified  that  it  had  not  been  seen  either 
by  Mrs.  Monroe  or  any  stranger  from  whom  she  could 
have  obtained  information.  On  the  other  hand,  Mrs. 
Morgan's  description  of  the  body,  before  she  had  seen 
it,  was  quite  as  satisfactory  as  Mrs.  Monroe's  descrip- 
tion of  the  clothes. 

Our  committee  took  no  part  in  the  third  inquest,  and 
the  body,  as  is  known,  was  declared  to  be  that  of 
Timothy  Monroe.  Simultaneously  an  incident  occurred 
showing  the  vindictive  spirit  of  our  opponents.  On 
the  evening  of  the  day  that  the  body  interred  at 
Batavia  was  declared  by  a  third  inquest  to  be  that  of 
Timothy  Monroe,  I  went  into  the  billiard-room  of  the 
Eagle  Hotel  to  see  a  friend  from  Clarkson.  When 
leaving  the  room,  Ebenezer  Griffin,  Esq.,  a  prominent 
lawyer  employed  as  counsel  for  Masons,  who  was  play- 
ing billiards,  turned  to  me,  cue  in  hand,  saying,  "Well, 
Weed,  what  will  you  do  for  a  Morgan  now?"  To  which 
I  replied,  "That  is  a  good  enough  Morgan  for  us  till 
you  bring   back  the   one   you   carried   off."     On   the 


THUKLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION. 

following  morning  the  Daily  Advertiser,  a  Masonic 
organ,  contained  a  paragraph  charging  me  with  having 
boastingly  said  that  the  body  in  question  uwas  a  good 
enough  Morgan  until  after  the  election."  That  per- 
version went  the  rounds  of  the  Masonic  and  Democratic 
press,  awakening  much  popular  indignation  and  sub- 
jecting me  to  denunciations  in  speeches  and  resolutions 
at  political  meetings  and  conventions.  Explanations 
were  disregarded;  the  maxim  that  "Falsehood  will 
travel  miles  while  Truth  is  drawing  on  its  boots"  was 
then  verified.  I  suffered  obloquy  and  reproach  from 
that  wicked  perversion  for  nearly  half  a  century.  In- 
deed, there  is  reason  to  believe  that  even  now,  where  I 
am  personally  unknown,  generations  are  growing  up 
believing  that  I  mutilated  a  dead  body  for  political 
effect,  and,  when  exposed,  boasted  that  it  was  a  good 
enough  Morgan  till  after  the  election.  Forty  years 
afterwards  the  editor  of  the  paper  who  originated  that 
calumny,  by  a  series  of  pecuniary  reverses,  was  com- 
pelled to  apply  to  me  for  assistance.  I  avenged  the 
great  wrong  he  had  done  me  by  obtaining  for  him  a 
situation  in  the  Custom  House. 

This  served  to  extend  and  intensity  the  "excitement." 
It  was  everywhere  charged  and  widely  believed  that  I 
had  mutilated  the  bodjT  in  question  for  the  purpose  of 
making  it  resemble  that  of  Capt.  William  Morgan.  I 
encountered  prejudices  thus  created  both  in  Paris  and 
London  twenty  years  afterwards. 

Our  investigations  were  embarrassed  and  protracted 
by  the  absence  and  concealmemt  of  important  witnesses. 
One  of  these  witnesses  was  an  invalid  soldier  who  had 
had  the  care  of  Morgan  while  confined  in  the  magazine 
at  Fort  Niagara,  but  he  disappeared,  and  all  efforts  to 


8         THURLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION. 

find  him  were  unavailing  for  more  than  a  year.  I 
finally  traced  him  (Elisha  Adams)  to  Brookfield,  a 
mountain  town  in  Vermont.  We  reached  the  log 
house  of  Adams'  brother-in-law,  with  whom  he  was 
hiding,  between  twelve  and  one  o'clock  at  night.  Our 
rap  was  responded  to  by  the  owner,  to  whom,  on  open- 
ing the  door,  the  sheriff  introduced  me,  directly  after 
which,  and  before  anything  more  had  been  said,  we 
heard  a  voice  from  the  second  floor  of  the  cabin,  say- 
ing, "  I  am  ready  and  have  been  expecting  you  all 
winter."  Immediately  afterwards  the  old  mun  came 
down  the  ladder,  and  in  ten  minutes  we  departed  on  our 
return. 

While  waiting  for  breakfast  at  the  foot  of  the 
mountain  several  men  dropped  into  the  bar-room  where 
we  were  sitting.  When  called  to  breakfast,  the  land- 
lady, carefully  closing  the  doors,  remarked  that  her 
husband  had  sent  around  for  Masons,  some  of  whom 
had  already  appeared,  but  that  we  need  not  fear  them, 
for  she  had  sent  her  daughter  to  inform  other  villagers 
what  was  going  on,  and  that  before  we  had  done  break- 
fast there  would  be  twice  as  many  Anti-masons  as 
Masons  in  attendance.  Returning  to  the  bar-room  we 
found  that  she  had  done  her  work  thoroughly.  Fifteen 
or  twentjT  men  were  in  the  bar-room  glaring  at  each 
other  and  at  Adams,  but  nothing  was  said  and  we  were 
driven  off  unmolested.  On  our  way  back  Adams,  at 
different  times,  stated  that  hearing  a  noise  in  the  maga- 
zine he  reported  it  to  Mr.  Edward  Giddins,  keeper  of 
the  Fort,  who  told  him  that  a  stranger  was  lodged  there 
who  in  a  day  or  two  would  be  taken  to  his  friends  in 
Canada,  but  nothing  must  be  said  about  it.  He  then, 
from  time  to  time,  carried  food  to  the  person.     Soon 


THURLOW  WEED  ON"  THE  MORGAN"  ABDUCTION.  9 

afterwards,  near  midnight,  he  was  told  to  have  a  boat 
in  readiness  for  the  purpose  of  taking  away  the  man 
in  the  magazine.  Several  gentlemen  arrived  in  a 
carriage  by  whom  the  man  was  taken  from  the  maga- 
zine and  escorted  to  the  boat.  Adams  was  told  to 
remain  on  the  dock  until  the  boat  should  return,  and 
that  if  in  the  meantime  an  alarm  should  be  given 
he  was  to  show  a  signal  to  warn  the  boat  aw*y.  As 
nothing  of  the  kind  occurred  the  boat  returned 
quietly,  and  as,  of  the  six  who  left  in  the  boat,  only 
five  returned,  he  supposed  that  one  had  gone  to  his 
friends  in  Canada. 

Adams  was  wanted  as  a  witness  in  trials  then  pend- 
ing in  Canandaigua.  We  reached  that  place  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  day  the  court  convened.  Three  men 
were  on  trial  for  abducting  Morgan.  The  testimony 
of  Adams  was  essential  to  complete  the  link.  On  being 
called  to  the  stand  he  denied  all  knowledge  bearing 
upon  the  question.  He  resided,  he  said,  at  the  time 
specified,  in  the  Fort,  but  knew  of  no  man  being  con- 
fined in  the  magazine;  and  knew  nothing  of  men 
coming  there  at  night  in  a  carriage,  and  knew  nothing 
of  a  man  being  taken  from  there  in  a  boat.  His 
denials  covering  the  whole  ground  were  explicit.  That, 
for  the  time  being,  ended  the  matter.  When  the  court 
adjourned  I  walked  across  the  square  with  Judge 
Howell,  who  presided,  and  who  remarked  to  me  that  1 
had  made  a  long  journey  for  nothing,  my  witness, 
Adams,  being  ignorant  of  the  whole  affair.  Gen.  Yin- 
cent  Mathews,  of  Rochester,  who  was  walking  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Judge,  replied  with  much  feeling, 
u  that  the  old  rascal  had  not  uttered  one  word  of  truth 
while  he  was  on  the  stand." 


10    THURLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN"  ABDUCTION. 

Gen.  Mathews  was  the  leading  counsel  for  the  kid- 
nappers, but  refused  to  be  a  party  in  tampering  with 
witnesses.  On  our  return  to  Rochester  the  witness 
Adams  was  in  an  extra  stage  with  his  Masonic  friends. 
As  there  was  no  longer  any  need  of  hiding  he  was  on 
his  way  to  Niagara.  In  passing  the  Mansion  House, 
Rochester,  Adams,  who  was  standing  in  the  doorway, 
asked  me  to  stop,  saying  he  wanted  to  explain  his 
testimony.  The  lawyers,  he  said,  informed  him  that  if 
he  told  what  he  knew  about  the  magazine  and  the  boat 
it  would  be  a  confession  that  would  send  him  to  state's 
prison.  They  also  told  him  that  the  law  did  not  compel 
a  witness  to  criminate  himself;  and,  to  avoid  punish- 
ment, he  must  deny  the  whole  story. 

In  1831,  after  my  removal  from  Rochester  to  Albany, 
a  libel  suit  was  commenced  against  me  by  Glen.  Gould, 
of  Rochester.  It  was  tried  at  Albany,  Judge  James 
Vanderpoel  presiding.  The  libel  charged  Gen.  Gould 
with  giving  money  he  received  from  the  Royal  Arch 
Grand  Chapter  to  enable  Burrage  Smith  and  John 
Whitney  to  escape  from  justice.  Gerrit  L.  Dox, 
Treasurer  of  the  Grand  Chapter,  and  John  Whitney, 
one  of  the  recipients  of  the  money,  were  in  court  to 
establish  the  truth  of  the  libel.  Mr.  Dox  testified  that 
a  u  charity  fund "  had  been  entrusted  to  Gen.  Gould. 
John  Whitney  was  called  to  piove  that  he  received  a 
part  of  the  fund,  with  which,  in  company  with  Burrage 
Smith,  he  left  Rochester  and  was  absent  nearly  a  year. 
Gen.  Gould's  counsel  objected  to  witness'  testimony 
until  it  had  been  shown  that  Gen.  Gould  knew  that  the 
money  furnished  was  to  enable  Smith  and  Whitney  to 
escape  from  justice.  The  court  sustained  this  objection 
and  Whitney's   testimony   was  excluded.     As  it   was 


THURLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION.        11 

impossible  to  prove  what  was  known  only  to  Gen. 
Gould  himself,  the  trial  ended  abruptly.  Judge  Van- 
derpoel,  in  charging  the  jury,  dwelt  at  length  upon  the 
licentiousness  of  the  press,  and  called  upon  the  jury  to 
give  exemplary  damages  to  the  injured  and  innocent 
plaintiff.  The  jury  thus  instructed,  but  with  evident 
reluctance,  found  a  verdict  of  four  hundred  dollars 
against  me.  My  offence  consisted  in  asserting  a  fact, 
the  exact  truth  of  which  would  have  been  established 
if  the  testimony  had  not  been  ruled  out  by  a  monstrous 
perversion  of  justice. 

Col.  Simeon  B.  Jewett,  of  Clarkson,  Major  Samuel 
Barton  of  Lewiston,  and  John  Whitney  of  Rochester, 
passed  that  evening  at  my  house.  Jewett  was  prepared 
to  testify  that  he  furnished  a  carriage  for  those  who 
were  conveying  Morgan  secretly  from  Canandaigua  to 
Niagara.  John  Whitney  was  one  of  the  party.  Major 
Barton  would  have  testified  that  he  furnished  the 
carriage  which  conveyed  the  party  from  Lewiston  to 
Fort  Niagara,  John  Whitney  being  one  of  that  party. 
Whitney  would  have  sworn  that  Gould  supplied  money 
to  enable  him  to  "  escape  from  justice."  In  the  course 
of  the  evening,  the  Morgan  affair  being  the  principal 
topic  of  conversation,  Col.  Jewett  turned  to  Whitney 
with  emphasis  and  said,  "John,  what  if  you  make  a 
clean  breast  of  it/'  Whitney  looked  inquiringly  at 
Barton,  who  added,  "  Go  ahead." 

Whitney  then  related  in  detail  the  history  of  Mor- 
gan's abduction  and  fate.  The  idea  of  suppressing 
Morgan's  intended  exposure  of  the  secrets  of  Masonry 
was  first  suggested  by  a  man  by  the  name  of  Johns. 
It  was  discussed  in  lodges  at  Batavia,  Le  Roy  and 
Rochester.     Johns  suggested  that  Morgan  should  be 


12        THURLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION. 

separated  from  Miller  and  placed  on  a  farm  in  Canada 
West.  For  this  purpose  he  was  taken  to  Niagara  and 
placed  in  the  magazine  of  the  Fort  until  arrangements 
for  settling  him  in  Canada  were  completed,  but  the 
Canadian  Masons  disappointed  them.  After  several 
meetings  of  the  lodge  in  Canada,  opposite  Fort  Niagara, 
a  refusal  to  have  anything  to  do  with  Morgan  left 
his  "kidnappers1'  greatly  perplexed.  Opportunely 
a  Royal  Arch  chapter  was  installed  at  Lewiston. 
The  occasion  brought  a  large  number  of  enthusi- 
astic Masons  together.  "  After  labor,"  in  Masonic 
language,  they  ''retired  to  refreshment."  Under  the 
exhilaration  of  champagne  and  other  viands  the  Chap- 
lain (the  Rev.  F.  H.  Cummings,  of  Rochester)  was 
called  on  for  a  toast.  He  responded  with  peculiar  em- 
phasis and  in  the  language  of  their  ritual:  "The  ene- 
mies of  our  order — may  they  find  a  grave  six  feet  deep, 
six  feet  long,  and  six  feet  due  east  and  west."  Imme- 
diately after  that  toast,  which  was  received  with  great 
enthusiasm,  Col.  William  King,  an  officer  in  our  war  of 
1812,  and  then  a  Member  of  Assembly  from  Niagara 
county,  called  Whitney  of  Rochester,  Howard  of 
Buffalo,  Chubbuck  of  Lewiston,  and  Garside  of  Cana- 
da, out  of  the  room  and  into  a  carriage  furnished  by 
Major  Barton.  They  were  driven  to  Fort  Niagara,  re- 
paired to  the  magazine  and  informed  Morgan  that  the 
arrangements  for  sending  him  to  Canada  were  com- 
pleted and  that  his  family  would  soon  follow  him. 
Morgan  received  the  information  cheerfully  and  walked 
with  supposed  friends  to  the  boat,  which  was  rowed  to 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  where  a  rope  was  wound  around 
his  body,  to  each  end  of  which  a  sinker  was  attached. 
Morgan  was  then  thrown  overboard.     He  grasped  the 


THURLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION.         13 

gunwale  of  the  boat  convulsively.     Grarside,  in  forcing 
Morgan  to  relinquish  his  hold  was  severely  bitten. 

Whitney,  in  concluding  his  narrative,  said  he  was 
now  relieved  from  a  heavy  load;  that  for  four  years  he 
had  not  heard  the  window  rustle  or  any  other  noise  at 
night  without  thinking  the  sheriff  was  after  him.  Col. 
Jewett,  looking  fixedly  at  Whitney,  said,  "  Weed  can 
hang  you  now/'  "  But  he  won't,"  was  Whitney's 
prompt  reply.  Of  course  a  secret  thus  confided  to  me 
was  inviolably  kept,  and  twenty-nine  years  afterwards, 
while  attending  a  National  Republican  Convention  at 
Chicago,  John  Whitney,  who  then  resided  there,  called 
to  say  that  he  wanted  me  to  write  out  what  he  once 
told  me  about  Morgan's  fate,  to  be  signed  by  him  in 
the  presence  of  witnesses,  to  be  sealed  up  and  published 
after  his  death.  I  promised  to  do  so  before  leaving 
Chicago.  There  was  no  leisure,  however,  during  the 
sitting  of  the  Convention,  and  even  before  its  final 
adjournment,  forgetting  what  I  had  told  Whitney,  I 
hurried  to  Iowa,  returning  by  way  of  Springfield  to 
visit  Mr.  Lincoln.  In  the  excitement  of  the  canvass 
which  followed  and  the  secession  of  the  Southern 
States  upon  Mr.  Lincoln's  election,  I  neglected  the  im- 
portant duty  of  securing  the  confession  Whitney  was 
so  anxious  to  make.  In  1861,1  went  to  Europe,  and 
while  in  London  wrote  a  letter  to  Whitney  asking  him 
to  get  Alex.  B.  Williams,  then  a  resident  of  Chicago, 
to  do  what  I  had  so  unpardonably  neglected.  That 
letter  reached  Chicago  one  week  after  Whitney's 
death,  closing  the  last  and  only  chance  for  the  revela- 
tion of  that  important  event. 

Whitney  was  a  mason  by  trade,  honest,  industrious, 
sober,  but  excitable.     In  all  the  early  stages  of  the 


14        THURLOW  WEED  OX  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION. 

Morgan  affair  he  believed  he  was  doing  his  duty.  The 
final  crime  was  committed  under  the  circumstances  I 
have  related. 

I  now  look  back  through  an  interval  of  fifty-six 
years  with  a  conscious  sense  of  having  been  governed 
through  the  "  Anti-masonic  excitement  "  by  a  sincere 
desire,  first,  to  vindicate  the  violated  laws  of  my  coun- 
try, and  next,  to  arrest  the  great  power  and  dangerous 
influences  of  "secret  societies."  We  labored  under 
serious  disadvantages.  The  people  were  unwilling  to 
believe  that  an  institution  so  ancient,  to  which  so 
many  of  our  best  and  most  distinguished  men  belonged, 
was  capable  of  not  only  violating  the  laws  but  of  sus- 
taining and  \  protecting  offending  men  of  the  order.  A 
vast  majority  of  the  American  people  believed  that 
Morgan  was  concealed  by  our  committee  for  political 
effect.  While  we  were  being  fiercely  denounced  as 
incendiary  spirits,  Judge  Enos  T.  Throop,  in  charging 
the  Grand  Jury  at  Canandaigua,  spoke  of  Anti-masonry 
as  a  "blessed  spirit;"  a  spirit  which  he  hoped  "  would 
not  rest  until  every  man  implicated  in  the  abduction  of 
Morgan  was  tried,  convicted  and  punished." 

It  is  pleasant  also  to  contemplate  the  character  of 
those  with  whom  I  was  then  associated  judicially  and 
politically.  Than  James  Wadsworth,  Geo.  W.  Patter- 
son and  Philo  C.  Fuller,  of  Livingston;  Trumbul] 
Cary,  Geo.  W.  Lay,  Jas.  Brisbane,  Moses  Taggart,  Seth 
M.  Gates,  Phineas  L.  Tracy,  Herbert  A.  Read,  Tim- 
othy Fitch.  Hinman  Holden  and  T.  F.  Talbot  of  Gen- 
esee: Albert  H.  Tracy,  Millard  Fillmore,  Noah  P. 
Sprague.  and  Thos.  C.  Love,  of  Erie;  Bates  Cook,  Geo. 
H.  Boughton,  Robert  Fleming,  John  Phillips  and  Ly- 
man A.  Spaulding,  of  Niagara;  Andrew  B.  Dickinson,  of 


THURLOW  WEED  ON  THE  MORGAN  ABDUCTION.         15 

Steuben ;  John  Maynard  and  William  Sackett,  of  Seneca; 
Myron  Holley,  of  Wayne;  Francis  Granger,  Henry  W. 
Taylor  and  Samuel  Miles  Hopkins,  of  Ontario;  Wm. 
H.  Seward,  Christopher  and  Edwin  B.  Morgan,  of 
Cayuga;  Rev.  Dr.  Nott,  of  Schenectady;  Victory 
Birdseye  and  E.  W.  Leavenworth,  of  Onondaga;  Wm. 
H.  Maynard,  of  Oneida;  Gideon  Hard,  of  Orleans; 
Abner  Hazeltine  and  John  Birdsall,  of  Chautauqua; 
Samuel  Work,  Heman  Norton,  Samuel  G.  Andrews, 
James  K.  Livingston,  Frederick  Whittlesey,  Dr.  F.  F. 
Backus,  A.  W.  Riley  and  Harvey  Ely,  of  Monroe; 
Henry  Dana  Ward,  of  New  York;  Weare  C.  Little,  of 
Albany;  Richard  Rush,  John  Sargent  and  Amos 
Ellmaker,  of  Pennsylvania;  and  William  Wirt,  of  Vir- 
ginia, an  equal  number  of  truly  good  and  eminent  men 
cannot  be  found.  My  friends  Weare  C.  Little  of  Albany, 
Gideon  Hard  of  Orleans,  Moses  Taggart  of  Genesee,  and 
Lyman  A.  Spaulding  of  Niagara,  are  almost  the  only 
survivors. 


and  County  \  [dictated.] 

of  New  York.    \88' 

Thurlow  Weed,  being  duly  sworn,  says  that  the  fore- 
going statements  are  true. 

THURLOW  WEED. 
Subscribed  and  sworn  to  before  me  this  28th  day  of 
September,  1882. 

Spencer  C.  Doty,  Notary  Public, 
17  Union  Square,  New  York  City. 


FRONTISPIECE. 

The  frontispiece  is  an  engraving  of  the  Morgan 
monument.  It  stands  in  the  old  cemetery  at  Batavia, 
N.  Y.,  a  few  feet  from  the  track  of  the  Central  R.  R. 
It  is  thirty-eight  feet  in  height,  and  weighs  forty  tons. 
It  was  erected  by  R.  F.  Carter,  of  Ryegate,  Vt.,  under 
the  supervision  of  the  National  Christian  Association, 
and  unvailed  at  its  14th  Annual  Convention,  in  pres- 
ence .of  an  immense  concourse  of  people,  who  gathered 
to  pay  a  tribute  of  respect  to  the  heroism  of  the  man 
whose  courage  and  devotion  to  his  country  it  is  de- 
signed to  perpetuate.  Rev.  Joseph  E.  Roy,  D.  D.,  of 
Atlanta,  Ga.,  and  President  Charles  A.  Blanchard,  of 
Wheaton,  111.,  were  the  principal  speakers.  As  a  work 
of  art  it  ranks  with  the  first  in  our  country,  and  is  a 
fitting  memorial  to  the  martyr  whose  life  was  sacrificed 
by  Freemasons  when  they  discovered  his  intention  to 
publish  the  secrets  of  their  order.  On  the  four  sides 
of  the  polished  dice  are  the  following  inscriptions  in 
legible  characters : 

South  Side:  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Wm.  Morgan,  a 
native  of  Virginia,  a  captain  in  the  war  of  1812,  a  respecta- 
ble citizen  of  Batavia,  and  a  martyr  to  the  freedom  of  writ- 
ing, printing  and  speaking  the  truth.  He  was  abducted 
from  near  this  spot  in  the  year  1826,  by  Freemasons,  and 
murdered  for  revealing  the  secrets  of  their  order. 

East  Side:  Erected  by  volunteer  contributions  from 
over  2,000  persons  residing  in  Ontario,  Canada,  and  twenty- 
six  of  the  United  States  and  Territories. 

North  Side:  The  court  records  of  Genesee  County,  and 
files  of  the  Batavia  Advocate,  kept  in  the  Recorder's  office, 
contain  the  history  of  the  events  that  caused  the  erec- 
tion of  this  Monument,  Sept.  13,  1882. 

West  Side:  "  The  bane  of  our  civil  institutions  is  to  be 
found  in  Masonry,  already  powerful,  and  daily  becoming 
more  so.  *  *  I  owe  to  my  country  an  exposure  of 
its  dangers."— Copt  William  Morgan. 


ANTI-SECRECY   TRACTS 

Published  by  the  National  Christian  Association,  221  west 

Madison  St.,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

loSf Se? Vnlt  "^  °f  5°  CeDtS  PCr  100°  ^e8  at  the  office,  or  75  cents  per 

Contributions  ^solicited  to  (be  T*lct  Funi>  for  tbe  free  distribution  of  tracts. 

Ko     1.   Historical  Sketch  of  the  Association    by  Prest    T   m       >.       *<>.  pages. 

-     q-   ^eeinasonry  Modern  Heathenism. .  Uhtrated> 2 

,.     8-  Ministers  at  Rival  Altars. . .  4 

u     "■  A  Castor's  Confession .   .         4 

• ,   "•  Knight  Templar  Masonry,  by  j."  p."  Stoddard 4 

..  }§•   ^*ander  Campbell's  Estimate  of  tl  o  L  dges 4 

;:   :  ttnSS£££iZ ^^  ••■■■■■■  ■::::::::::::::  1 

"   19-   Frle'masoS  y  a  ChHs^ ExSuSn80^';  Vy  ^  J'  *&&£. '.""i:       \ 

'  •  !k'   Cinaracter  and  Symbol 


^^y^s^^ssss^s^i 


Morgan":.    ..7..  C,a"0n  Conc^ning  the  Murder  of  Wm. . 


35"   obpHr    M*n  S&y  about  .Freemasonry J 

TO.   Objections  to  Masonry,  by  a  Seceding-  Mason Z 


49.  Duty  of  American  Voters.     By  John  Quincy  Adams .     . '.  .  \  \ '. '.  *. '. '. . .       \ 

uu  ?•'  .THrRLOW  "Weep  on  the  Abduction  and  Murder  of  William  Morgan, 
with  hia  Affidavit,  and  with  Engraving  of  the  Morgan  Monument  Sinele 
copy  5  cents,  per  hundred  $3. 00. 


52 


NC 


A! 

onel 

tlon  - 

the  c 

and  : 

Whe 

stam 

show 

expo 

Holli_ 

per. 

copy 

page 


a:- 

Mast 
of  3 


ft 


with 

foot  _ 

teac] 

ard. 

the* 

hunc 

hun( 


Masi 
the  ( 
Pap< 


H 


c°. 

per  1 


14  DAY  USE  _ 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT.  ss 

RENEWALS  ONLY— TEL.  NO.  642-3405 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 


flfccasfl* 


JAN  2  2  1970 


■c*Ml! 


SANTA  CR|UZ 


0EC2 


DEC  2  0  1974 


m 


13'70-1» 


LOAN 


ac- 
>ver 
ita- 

ith 

Ion 

a  of 

om 
and 
his 
191, 
00; 
gle 
376 


_ery, 
lent 
ook 
iper 


kah 
ate, 
Ired 
and 
ich- 
by 
per 
per 


•est. 
ight 
ned 

p.oo. 


LD21A-60m-6,'69 
(J9096sl0)476-A-32 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


0 


onic 
5.50; 


Gaylord  Bros.,  Inc. 
Stockton,  Calif. 

T.M.  Reg.  U.S.  Pat.  Off. 


M160444 


0^  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


V*- 


